Souhegan girls lacrosse rolls past Nashua South, heads back to D1 semis

AMHERST – The Souhegan High School girls lacrosse team is headed back to the semifinals after a 17-1 defeat of Nashua South on Wednesday. The Sabers (16-3) saw three goal performances from junior Brigid Casey and freshman Savannah Behn en roue to a sixth consecutive semis appearance.

“They executed most of the things we’ve been working on,” said coach Maren Petropulos. “There’s still some things we’d like to fine tune. I think we had 10 different scorers, that’s hard to beat and they did try to shut down some of our top girls. The girls are so smart and savvy now they could just bump it over to different kids.”

The Sabers have been contenders in the postseason for the past five years, but have been unable to get over that championship hump, going 0-3 in title games. With two consecutive semifinals losses as well, Souhegan seems ready to make that next big leap.

“These kids have responded to everything new we’ve thrown at them the past week,” said Petropulos. “Coming off three great wins against Bedford, Pinkerton, and then Norwell, Mass., I think that is building their confidence. We’ll have to work really hard next game regardless, we’re not looking past Saturday.”

Nashua South came into the contest having lost 91 out of 100 games heading into this year, but breaking even with an 8-8 record in the regular season. Souhegan beat the Panthers 17-0 more than a month ago, but Nashua South was able to get a single on the board in this contest off the stick of Kirsten McIntire to lead off the second half.

Along with the three goal outings from Behn and Casey, Abby Cranney had two goals and an assist while Clare Woodford had two tallies. Central Connecticut bound goalkeeper Meg Allard made three saves.

Behn’s performance as a freshman was especially notable.

“Savannah is one of those kids that’s so coachable and asks great questions,” said Petropulos. “She looks when you are talking to her, if you pull her off, she’ll have a question or two. She’s a smart kid, we’re lucky to have her. She could run full field, but right now we don’t need that. Down the road, she’ll probably be a middie.”

The strong defensive performance was the norm for the Sabers, who haven’t allowed more than eight goals in a game all season. But the 17-goal explosion was the eighth of its kind as well as Souhegan has plenty of attackers with the ability to find the back of the net.

All season long, Souhegan has responded to everything thrown its way. the next challenge? Finally getting back to that championship contest.

“I think the girls are focused and confident,” Petropulos said. “We’re still building, and they’ve heard some things about our team that I think is spurring them on. They’ve heard people think we don’t always show up, it’s crazy. I think a lot of these bigger teams pick on little Souhegan, but we have a solid program and can play with the big guys, and we’re going to.”